Spiritual Growth Prayer
16 March 2014 PM – Ephesians 3:14-21 – Eph 14 – Scott Childs
Introduction: Years ago, I had an orange tree that was stunted. It was root bound and never produced edible fruit. Many Christians are just like that orange tree. Paul prayed that the Christians at Ephesus would grow spiritually and know the fullness of God.
Transition: As we look at this prayer, I want you to notice with me how we need the very same things in our lives.
I. The Petition (14-16)
A. Paul records a second prayer
1. The words “for this cause” go back again to Eph 3:1 where he was thinking about the mystery of believing Jews and Gentiles being one in Christ.
2. He now bends his knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Father of the whole family in heaven and in earth including all believers, whether Jews or Gentiles, and perhaps even the holy angels.
B. Paul makes his request to the Father (16)
1. He ask God to grant (give) the Ephesian believers the grace to be strengthened with might.
a) This gift is according to the riches of God’s glory. God’s character is rich and Paul is asking our generous God to give those in need.
b) Only God can strengthen a Christian with divine power so that he can endure trials, resist temptation, stand up for Christ, proclaim the gospel, and glorify God day by day.
c) The requested strengthening is done by the Holy Spirit.
d) It takes place in the inner man, in the heart of the believer. The Christian life is not about doing “Christian” things in our own strength self-righteously. Yet that is what many Christians do.
2. I believe Paul is praying that the Ephesian believers will have a close, flourishing relationship with God that is the key to living a victorious Christian life.
We too ought to pray that God might give us the grace to be strengthened with His power by His Holy Spirit in our inner man.
II. The Purpose (17-19)
Paul gives a fourfold purpose of his prayer
A. That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith (17)
1. This is not speaking of Christ’s presence in our hearts. That was settled the moment of salvation. Christ and the Holy Spirit live in every true Believer (Joh 14:15-18).
2. The compound word used here means “to live as in a home” and “down”, thus “to settle down and be at home.” Kenneth Wuest Christ wants to settle down and feel right at home in your heart, but sin prevents this. Thus, as we cooperate with the Holy Spirit, He cleans our hearts and makes them fit for Christ to feel at home.
Galatians 5:16 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.
Wuest continues, Dr. Max Reich once said in the hearing of the writer, “If we make room for the Holy Spirit, He will make room for the Lord Jesus.” That is, if the saint lives in conscious dependence upon and yieldedness to the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit will make room for the Lord Jesus in the heart and life of the saint by eliminating from his life things that are sinful and of the world, and thus enable the saint to make the Lord Jesus feel completely at home in his heart.
3. Being rooted and grounded are the result of the Holy Spirit’s work in us so that Christ can be at home in our hearts.
a) Rooted describes a plant that firmly takes root in the soil.
b) Grounded describes a rock-solid foundation under a building.
c) Every Christian was rooted and grounded (perfect passive verbs) securely in God’s love by the Holy Spirit at salvation (Eph 1:13).
B. That you may be able to comprehend the vastness of the love of Christ (18)
1. This builds on the first purpose and depends on it.
2. Having been rooted and grounded in order that you may be able to comprehend the vastness of Christ’s love.
a) The word “comprehend” literally means “to take hold for yourself” and thus gives us the meaning to grasp, possess, or comprehend.
b) God offers this privilege to all saints, not just to a select few.
c) All saints are able to take hold of the width and length and depth and height of Christ’s love.
C. And also that you may know the love of Christ (19)
1. This takes his prayer a step further.
2. Not only can we grasp the vastness of Christ’s love for ourselves, but we can also know it.
a) The word “know” describes knowledge gained by experience.
b) God does not just want us to comprehend the vastness of Christ’s love, but He wants us to know it by experience.
3. However, Christ’s love exceeds knowledge.
Wuest states, “no matter how much the saint experiences of the love of Christ, yet there are oceans of love in the great heart of God that have not been touched by his experience.”
D. That you might be filled with the fullness of God (19)
1. God wants us to comprehend and know the love of Christ for a specific reason.
2. He want this in order that we might be filled unto the fullness of God.
a) The word “fullness” describes a ship that is full of cargo and crew, ready to sail.
Vincent put it this way, Fullness of God is the fullness which God imparts through the dwelling of Christ in the heart.
Colossians 2:9 For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.
b) So the ultimate goal is that every Christian be filled with Christ who is the fullness of the Godhead. This can only take place when we have a close, flourishing relationship with God.
III. The Power (20-21)
A. God has the power to strengthen you! (20)
1. We may try our best to live the Christian life by our own efforts, but it will be powerless. We need God’s power that comes only through a close relationship with Him.
2. For us it is impossible, but not for God
a) He is able. He has the dynamite power.
b) He is able to do beyond all possibilities. Nothing is beyond His capabilities. Nothing is too hard for God.
Jeremiah 32:17 Ah Lord GOD! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee:
c) He is able to do beyond exceeding limits. Nothing is beyond His reach. He has no limits.
d) There is nothing that we will need to live a godly Christian life that we can ask or think that is beyond God’s power.
3. God’s power is near at hand. In fact it is working in us in the person of the Holy Spirit.
Wuest adds another great comment, “Thus, the saint determines what God is able to do for him. In His inherent ability, there is no limit to what God can do in and through the saint. But the saint limits the working of God in and through him by the degree of his yieldedness to the Spirit.”
B. He deserves all the glory (21)
1. God receives His glory through members in a local church.
2. We will continue to glorify Him for all eternity.
Conclusion: Every Christian here tonight ought to pray a prayer like this often. Our inner man needs to be strengthened with might by the Holy Spirit. We need that close, flourishing relationship with God where Christ is comfortably at home in our hearts, and we can comprehend and know his great love and be filled with Christ’s fullness. You cannot do it, but God can do it in you if you will yield to Him and draw near Him.
Song: I Am Resolved – 389